Weighing system



Dec. 24, 1940. E. w. BLEAM wmonme SYSTEM Filed July 22, 1937 3Sheets-Sheet 1 ATTORNEY.

Deg. 24, 1940. E. w. BLEAM WEIG-HING SYSTEM .Filed July 22, 195'! 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 MAW.

Dec. 24, 1940. E, w BLEAM 2,226,236

WEIGHING SYSTEM Filed July 22, 1937 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 5B /11 23 CD ATTORNEY.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE 2.226.236 I WEIGHING SYSTEM Edgar W. Bl

Philadelphia, n, neither to cam, Stokes and Smith Company, Philadelphia, Pa., a corporation oi Pennsylvania Application July it, 1931, Serial No. 154,953

15 Claims.

My invention relates to automatic weighing systems, and particularly to systems for weighing material such as crackers or biscuits, candies, washers, nuts and the like, especiallyaiter processing.

- In accordance with my invention; equal or unequal batches of material from one or more processing devices are delivered, as by a conveyor, to a hopper, or equivalent, for holding an accumuo lation of the material from which a substantially uniiorm stream is fed to a welghingmachine, preferably by an endless belt conveyor forming'a side or inclined wall 01' thehopper and preferably having transverse members or cleats at regular intervals to segregate the material to be weighed in approximately equal amounts.

More specifically, the conveyor from the hopper discharges the material at desired rate onto a belt conveyor in the weighing machine which feeds the material into the scale pan except when, in response to balance of the scale, the stream of material is automatically dammed, as by a brush, whose movement from its damming position is effected by mechanism whose cycle is' initiated in response to balance of the scale.

My invention further resides in the features of construction, combination and arrangement hereinafter described and claimed.

For an understanding of my invention and for illustration of a preferred form thereof, refers ence is to be had to the accompanying drawings in which:

Figure 1 diagrammatically illustrates a system including several processing devices and an automatic weighing machine;

Fig. 2 is an elevational view, on enlarged scale, with parts broken away, of the weighing machine and part of the conveyor mechanism shown in Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a plan view of variable speed transmission mechanism shown in Fig. 2;

Fig. 4 is a side elevational view of parts shown in Fig. 2 but as viewed from the opposite side of the-machine;

Fig. 5 in perspective illustrates scale-control elements shown in Figs. 2 and 4;

Fig. 6 is a perspective view illustrating the hopper end 01' conveyorv mechanism shown in Figs. 1 and 2;

Fig. '7 is an elevational view oi. a modificationator in a pan 2 which is then disposed in a processing device, specifically an oven 3, of a type. for example, in which a continuously moving conveyor transports a continuous series of such trays slowly along a predetermined path so that 5 by the time each tray arrives at the opening l 01' the oven, the contents thereof are baked. The operator then empties the tray of baked cookies into chute 5 and replaces the empty tray in the oven by a filled one from the kneader. 1 The batches of cookies dumped into the chute I fall upon a continuously movable conveyor belt 6 which, as indicated, may be common to several ovens. The spacing between the piles of material, specifically cookies, on the conveyor 15 belt 8 is haphazard; they may be spaced at regular or irregular intervals and since batches from different ovens may be superimposed to form a single pile, the piles of material differ in size as between themselves. I

At the discharge end of conveyor 6 the piles tail into the chute 'l which directs them onto another endless conveyor 8, which carries them through another processing device, for example, a sprayer 9 which may sprinkle some confection, 25 or spray some substance, as butter, on the cookies 01 the batches. At the discharge end of the conveyor belt 8, there is a chute it! which directs the successive batches onto the conveyor ll of another processing device, for example, a dryer 30 ii in which heated air may be forcibly circulated to effect rapid drying of the cookies and/or the material sprayed thereon. From the deliv ery end of the conveyor. I i the successive batches of material fall into a chute l3 which directs 35 them onto another endless conveyor [4 which conveys them toward an automatic weighing machine W. In systems of this type in which the material to be weighed is-delivered in batches which'may 40- arrive at irregular intervals. and in varying amounts, it has not heretofore been feasible to utilize automatic weighing machines, particularly of the type shownin Figs. 2-5, which are capable of accurate weighing operations at speeds as high 45 as 30 per minute. It is a principal object of the present invention to provide for continuous weighing of predetermined amounts of material delivered in batches from processing devices as baking or heat-treating ovens, dryers, or other processing devices oi naturedependent upon the character of the material and the nature oi. the treatment.

Referring to Fig. 2, the scale pan or receptacle ii of the weighing machine W is pivotally mounted at 15 to the scale beam l1 pivoted at l5 to the frame of the weighing machine. Upon the other end of the scale arm is mounted the weight pan l5. One side of the scale receptacle is closed by a door 25 pivotally secured to shaft 2|, Journaled in the side walls of the scale receptacle and to one end of which is secured the lever 22 connected by link 25 to arm 25 carried by shaft 25. The bearing members 25 for shaft 25 are secured to opposite sides of the scale pan l5, and to one end of shaft 25 is attached, as shown most clearly in Fig. 5, the door operating arm 21 which, as hereinafter described, is operated automatically upon balance of the scale to discharge the weighed contents of the scale pan into suitable container, such as a bag or box, which may be held by the operator below the scale pan or which may be moved to that position by a conveyor or equivalent.

Material is fed toward the scale pan from the receiving end of the machine by a conveyor belt 25 which is driven by pulley 25 on shaft 55, Fig. 2, to which is secured the sprocket 5| driven by motor M through chain 32, sprocket 55, shaft 54, sprocket 55, chain 55, sprocket 51, shaft 55, sprocket 55, chain 45, sprocket 4|, shaft 42, pulley n and belt 44. The conveyor belt is at its discharge end is substantially tangent to the downwardly inclined chute 45 and there passes over the idler roll 45 journaled in frame members 41 of the machine.

The idler roll 45 is connected as by belt 41a to the driving member 45 forthe brush 5.5 which rotates above the belt in the space between the side members 55 which, with the conveyor belt, define a chute or trough for the stream of material fed towards the scale receptacle. The shaft 5| on which the brush 45 rotates can be adjusted angularly about the axis of idler roll 45 as a center to vary the clearance between the belt and the brush which, as indicated, revolves in such direction that the bottom of the brush is traveling in a direction opposite to the upper lift of the conveyor, i. e., counter to the stream of material being fed toward the scale receptacle. To allow this adjustment, the bracket 52, which receives the brush shaft 5|, is at its upper end provided with an arcuate slot 53.

When the. scale is balanced, the member 54, Fig. 2, depending from the scalearm l1, moves away from the contact member 55, permitting the spring 55 to move it into engagement with contact 51 to complete a circuit through the solenoid or ele'ctro-magnet 55 (Figs. 4 and 5) whose core or armature member 55 is mechanically connected to the latch 55.

The movement of the armature 59 in response to energization of the solenoid releases the latch 55 from the arm 5| at the lower end of a control-shaft 52, permitting the latter to be rotated in clockwise direction, as viewed in Fig. 5, by the biasing spring 55 and to an extent limited by the adjustable stop 52a. This movement of the shaft 52 causes the arm 54 thereon to move contact 55 from contact 55 and so interrupt the solenoid circuit, even though contacts 55 and 51 of the scale-switch may remain in engagement.

To the upper end of shaft 52 is connected the arm 51, which, upon clockwise movement of shaft 52 as aforesairhmoves away from the stop member 55 secured to shaft 55 which is positioned above the conveyor side members 55 by the brackets 15, 15. To the shaft 59 is attached the bracket or support 1| to which is adjustably.

secured the arm 12 carrying a brush 15 which normally, as appears in Fig. 2, is out of the path of the material passing from the conveyor down chute 45 to the scale receptacle.

-Upon clockwise movement of shaft 52, effected immediately upon balance of the scale, as above described, the arm 51 is moved away from stop 55,permitting the brush 13 quickly to be swung by spring 14 downwardly into position to dam the stream of material being fed to the scale. The brush is moved away from this stream-damming position by a one-time clutch mechanism, now described, whose cycle is initiated in response to balance of the scale.

The driving member 15 of the clutch (Figs. 4 and 5) is attached to the sprocket 15 which is continuously driven from the sprocket 11 on shaft 55 by the chain 15. The driving member 15, freely rotatable on shaft 52, is provided with a series of notches 19 each suited to receive the driven clutch member 55 pivotally mounted on the member 5| which is secured to shaft 52. The spring 53 connected between members 5| and 55 biases the latter toward engagement with the notched periphery of the driving clutch member, but for the position of the parts shown in Fig. 5, the driven clutch member is restrained from such movement by engagement of the member 54 attached thereto with the stop 55 secured to the control shaft 52.

When, in response to balance of the scale, the shaft 52 is rotated in clockwise direction (Fig. 5) as aforesaid, the stop 55 is moved clear of the clutch-restraining member 54, whereupon the driven clutch member 55 swings into engagement with the driving clutch member 15. Thereupon pin 55, extending from arm 51 secured to shaft 52, swings the arm 21 in counterclockwise direction (Fig. 5) to open the door 25 of the scale receptacle, causing discharge of the contents. As the rotation of the shaft 52 continues, the pin 55 slides off arm 21, permitting the door to reclose in readiness for the next weighing operation, and at the end of the cycle resumes the position shown in Fig. 5.

During the revolution of arm 51 with the driving clutch member 15, the pin 55 engages the end of slot 55 in arm 55 which is pivoted to arm secured to the control shaft 52, and for continued movement within the cycle of the clutch mechanism pulls the arm 55 in counterclockwise direction as viewed in Fig. 5 to return shaft 52 toward the latched position shown in Fig. 5 against the action of the biasing spring 53. Near the end of the resetting movement the arm 5! at the lower end of shaft 52 rides under the nose of the latch 55 which prevents the shaft 52 from rotating in reverse direction when pin 56 moves out of engagement with the end of the slot for return to its original position shown in Fig. 5.

Since arm 51 is, as above described, secured to shaft 52, it is effective during the resetting movement of the control shaft by its engagement with member 55 to move the brush 13, against the biasing action of spring 14, from its stream-damming position, whereupon the material is again fed down inclined chute 45 to the scale pen. When the brush is first lifted, the rate at which the material moves into the scale pan is relatively high because of the accumulation of material dammed up by the brush on the conveyor,

but after this first bulk discharge, the material flows as a thin stream into the scale receptacle at the rate at which it is fed by the conveyor belt 25.

To preclude improper operation of the scale,

operated by the. one-cycle clutch which particularly when a relatively large quantity of material is dumped into the scale receptacle upon lifting the brush 43, there Is provided m a scale beam against movement exceptfor 3th. part of the machine cycle which'ls appreciably after lifting of brush I. Specifically, thecam 8| on the driven clutch shaft 02 cooperates with a cam follower 00 on a vertically reciprocable bar 94 having a slot "A through which extends the shaft 02. To the lower end of bar I is connected the arm 95 attached to shaft 00 which, as most clearly shown in Fig. 2, is connected to the scalelocking arm. 01 adapted when rotated in clockwise direction (Fig. 2) to engage the-pin 00 secured to the scale member 00 and force it downwardly against the stop Ill. Upon balance of the scale, and tripping of the clutch, the cam 9i rotates clockwise (Fig. 4) permitting the arm 04 to drop, which causes the scale-locking member .01 to depress the weight upon the arm of the scale and hold it against any movement such as would otherwise be occasioned by the first heavy rush of material incident to lifting of brush I0. As shaft 82 continues to rotate, the bar 94 is lifted to effect release of the scale; as heretofore stated, the time of release of the scale beam is such that the scale is not free until appreciably after lifting of the brush I3 by the control shaft.

For accurate, high-speed weighing, i. e., a large number of cycles per minute, it is important the material be fed to the conveyor 20 in the form of a relatively thin stream having substantial uniformity. It is not feasible, therefore, in a system such as shown in Fig. l, to have conveyor ll discharge onto the conveyor 20 of the weighing machine because, even though the total quantity of material delivered by conveyor ll over a substantial interval of time, at least approximately corresponds to the amount of ma-- terial which the weighing machine is capable of segregating and weighing in that time; the wide difierences in level of material on belt 20 results in different amounts of material being beyond the brush I3 on its way to receptacle II when the brush descends.

To overcome the difficulty, the material from the conveyor I4 is discharged into a hopper IOI (Fig. 1). For simplicity, thehopper and the chute I02 extending to it from conveyor I4 may be integral; the hopper at its upper end is pivoted to the support I03 whose height is preferably adjustable. The lower end of the hopper, or sides of the chute -I02,'nests with the side guides I04 foran endless conveyor belt I05 the lower end of which, as appears in Fig. 6, forms. in eifect, one side of the hopper. Preferably the belt I05 is of fabric to which is sewn, or otherwise suitably secured, a number of regular- 1y spaced transverse members or cleats I06, preferably of leather, rubber, or like material. It is not essential the members I08 be continuous; they may, in fact, be comprised of a series of buttons, or abutments, suitably spaced. For

feeding of cookies, for example, each pair of cleats is preferably divergent in the direction of conveyor movement with a small opening between their adjacent ends to permit escape of .crumbs and small broken pieces. The distance between the successive cleats is preferably, for feeding of cookies, slightly greater than their diameter if circular, or greatest dimension if non-circular. Preferably, the thickness of the cleats is approximately equalto the thickness of the cookie, or other unit mass of material. The

belt ill in moving upwardly through the accumulation ofcookies or other material to be weighed in the hopper IIII, agitates and loosens up themass; each successive pair of cleats deflnes a. shallow pocket which picks up a substan-' i5 tialiy definite number of cookies. The accumulated material in the hopper itselfserves to prevent movement with the' belt ofthe "cookies or articles projecting above the cleats and so insures the belt shall not feed more than a thin, substantially uniform stream of the material from the hopper; this action is enhanced by operating the belt on a rather steep incline, as shown in Figs. 1 and 6, since then the vibration incident to operation of the machine causes the cookies, or the like, above the cleats to slide back into the hopper.

' The optimum angle of inclination for belt I05 varies with the size, shape and other character istics of the material; in general, the greater the tendency for the material to slide back toward the hopper, the less steep the angle may be.

It is, of course, understood that for different classes of material, it may be necessary or desirable to use belt having different spacings and thicknesses of cleats. 4

The conveyor belt I0! is driven, as shown in Fig. 2, by a roll I01 on shaft I08 supported bybracket member I00 extending upwardly from' and adjustably held'to the shelf III secured to the frame of the weighing machine. The belt I05 at its lower end passes over idler roll I whose shaft is supported by the adjustable standard Iii. The side guides I04 pass over and beyond shaft "land are there joined by the plate III to form a chute which directs the thin uniform stream of material from belt I05 onto the belt 20 of the machine. If perchance the stream has slight irregularities or non-uniformities, these are smoothed out by the revolving brush 40 previously described.

By slight modification, the weighing machine may be adapted for gross weight operation; specifically, the receptacle I I may be replaced, as shown in Fig. 7, by a platform lid for supporting a can, box, or the like, which functions as a temporary scale receptacle during a weighing operation, as well as the ultimate container for the weighed amount of material. In some cases it may be necessary or desirable to change the shape of chute to suit the particular shape oi'thecanorbox.

The rate at which material should be fed to the weighing machine depends not only'on the number of cycles per minute, but also upon the quantity of material to be weighed in each cycle;

, therefore, to utilize to full advantage the highspeed possibilities of the weighing machine, it is desirable to provide for change in the rate at which conveyor I05 feeds a uniform stream to the weighing machine. This may .be accom-: plished by a variable speed transmission, such as shown in Figs. 2 and 3. Specifically, the worm gear H2 loosely journaled on shaft I08 is attached to arm II3 from the lower end of which extends the stud shaft I24 on which are rotatable as a unit a sprocket III and pulley H5. The sprocket Ill is connected as by a chain IIB with sprocket II'I secured to conveyor drive shaft I08. The driving belt II8 for pulley II! is preferably of the flat V-type having a flat face for engaging the periphery of pulley I'IS and inclined sides for engaging the opposed faces of the cones H9, I20 on shaft 30.

The operator, by rotating hand-wheel III,

Fig. 2, in one direction or the other, rotates shaft I22 to which is secured worm I23 in mesh with worm-wheel H2 and so swings shaft I24 in an arc whose center is the axis of shaft I08 and whose radius is the distance between the axes of shafts I08 and I24. Thus, without stopping the conveyors or interrupting operation of the system, the operator may change the speed of conveyor belt I; for clockwise adjustment of arm II3, Fig. 2, the belt IIB rides higher on the cones II9, I20 and the conveyor belt I05 is driven at higher speed; conversely counterclockwise adjustment of arm I I3 which increases the distance between shafts 30 and I24 causes the belt I I It to ride deeper in the groove formed by the opposing faces of the cones and so effects reduction in speed of conveyor I05.

The spacing between cones H9, I20 varies automatically with adjustment of arm' H3. The hub 25 for cone IIB'is secured to shaft 30 and is elongated slidably to receive the hub I26 of cone I20. The compression of spring I21 which encircles hub I26 and bears against cone I20 is adjustable by the hand-nut I28 threadably received by hub I25 of cone H9. The force of the spring I2! biases the cones toward each other but the spacing of the cones is determined by the depth at which the belt is riding in the groove formed by opposing faces of the cones which depth in turn depends upon the distance between shafts 30 and I24 as selected by adjustment of hand-wheel I2 I.

In systems whose output is in excess of the capacity of a single weighing machine, some of the batches of material from conveyor I4 or its equivalent may be diverted to one or more additional weighing machines each provided with a hopper IOI and conveyor I05 for accumulating the material and feeding from the accumulation a substantially uniform stream to the associated weighing machine.

What I claim is:

1. An automatic weighing system comprising a scale, a conveyor movable to feed a stream of material to said scale, means responsive to balance of said scale temporarily to dam said stream, a hopper for the material to be weighed, and an endless belt conveyor for feeding material from the hopper to said first conveyor at a substantially uniform rate.

2. An automatic weighing system comprising a scale, a scale receptacle, a conveyor movable to feed a stream of material to said receptacle, means responsive to balance of said scale to dam said stream during emptying of the receptacle, a hopper for the material to be weighed, and an endless belt conveyor forming a wall of said hopper for feeding material therefrom at substantially uniform rate to said first conveyor.

3. An automatic weighing system comprising a scale, a scale receptacle, a conveyor movable to feed a stream of material to said receptacle, means responsive to balance of said scale to dam said stream during emptying of the receptacle, a hopper for the n tterial to be weighed, and an endless belt conveyor forming an upwardly inclined wall of said hopper and having transverse members for lifting and segregating substantially uniform amounts of said material and discharging them onto said first conveyor.

4. An automatic machine for weighing a predetermined quantity of material in each of successive operations comprising a scale, a scale receptacle, a continuously operating conveyor for feeding the material to said receptacle, a hopper for the material to be weighed, a second continuously operating conveyor for feeding a stream of the material at a substantially uniform rate from said hopper to said first conveyor, means operative upon balance of the scale to dam material on said first-named conveyor for a pre- 5 determined period, and means for correlating the quantity of said material to be weighed in each operation and the number of weighing operations per unit of time comprising means for varying the ratio to each other of the speeds of said conveyors.

5. An automatic weighing machine comprising a scale receptacle, a continuously operating conveyor for feeding material to said receptacle, a

hopper for the material to be weighed, a second continuously operating conveyor for feeding material at substantially uniform rate from said hopper to said conveyor, and means for varying the speed-ratio of said conveyors during their veyor, a driving shaft therefor, a pair of spaced cones rotatable with one of said shafts, means for varying the spacing of said cones in effect to provide a pulley of variable diameter, a pulley of fixed diameter on the other of said shafts, and means for varying the separation of said shafts.

7. An automatic weighing system comprising a scale having a platform for supporting a removable receptacle, a conveyor for feeding a stream of material to said receptacle, means responsive to balance of the scale for damming said stream during absence of said receptacle from said platform, a hopper for said material, and an endless belt conveyor forming an inclined wall of said hopper for feeding material upwardly therefrom and delivering it at substantially uniform rate to said first conveyor.

8. An automatic weighing system comprising a scale, having a platform for supporting a removable receptacle, a conveyor for feeding a stream of material to said receptacle, means responsive to scale receptacle, a conveyor having a substantially horizontal surface for feeding a stream of material toward said receptacle, a revolving brush above said horizontal conveyor surface for limiting the depth of said stream of material thereon, and structure actuated in response to balance of the scale to dam said stream between said revolving brush and said receptacle.

10. A system comprising a hopper, means for delivering material thereto at non-uniform rate, an automatic weighing machine, and means for conveying material from said hopper to said weighing machine including a conveyor belt forming an inclined wall of said hopper and having transverse members for lifting and segregating substantially uniform amounts of said material.

11. A system comprising a hopper, means for delivering material thereto at non-uniform rate; an automatic weighing machine having a scale and a scale receptacle, means for conveying material from said hopper to said weighing machine comprising a conveyor belt forming an inclined wall of said hopper and a second conveyor belt for receiving material at substantially uniform rate from said first belt and feeding it in a stream toward said scale receptacle,'means'for continuously operating said conveyor belts at uniform speed, and means responsive to each balance of .said scale temporarily to dam the stream on said second conveyor belt. I

12. An automatic weighing system comprising a scale having a platform for supporting a removable receptacle, a conveyor for feeding a stream of material to said receptacle, means responsive to balance of the scale for damming said stream, a hopper for said material, and an endless belt conveyor forming andnclined wall of 'said hopper for feeding material upwardly there.- of and delivering it at substantially uniform rate to said first conveyor.

13. A system for weighing crackers, candies and li ke objects comprising a hopper, means for conveying batches of said objects'to said hopper, an automatic scale, means including a conveyor belt for transferring obiects in a stream from said hopper to said scale, structure responsive to balance of the scale for damming the stream upon said conveyor belt, and structure continuously efiective to limit the depth of the stream in ad; vance of said first-named structure.

14. A system for weighing crackers, candies and like objects comprising a hopper, means for conveying batches of said objects to said hopper, an automatic scale, means for transferring said objects from said hopper to said scale comprising an endless conveyor belt forming an upwardly inclined wall of said hopper and having transverse members for segregating and lifting objects in a ,1.

substantially uniform stream from said hopperi and a second endless conveyor belt forreceiving 'objects discharged from said first-named conveyor belt and transporting them to said automatic scale, yielding structure responsive to balance of the scale for damming the stream upon said second-named conveyor belt, and yieldin structure continuously effective to limit the depth of the stream in advance of said first-named structure.

15. A system comprising an automatic weighing. machine including a scale and a substantially horizontal conveyor adapted to feed frangible objects to said scale, means responsive to balance of the scale temporarily to obstruct feed of said objects by said conveyor to said scale, a hopper for receiving batches of said objects, and an upwardly sloping and moving endless conveyor for feeding said objects from said hopper to said first conveyor in successive substantially uniform groups including structure for segre ating and retaining the groups, the excess objects not so segregated and initially tending to move upwardly therewith falling back into said hopper.

' EDGAR W. BEAM. 

